Do you need relationship counselling

Increasingly couples are seeking relationship counselling. For any couple there are pressures, at the start of the year the Office for National Statistics [ONS] noted a rise in the divorce rate and this may go some way to explaining the additional requirement for relationship counselling. The ONS noted that the economic downturn may have had something to do with the increased divorce rate and while the financial crisis if clearly a pressure for many partners; it cannot explain all of the break ups.

As long as there have been people, there has been relationship counselling, in years gone by the extended family would provide an outlet for frustration as well as strict social rules that prevented divorce. Yet as we moved toward the 21st century, more has been discovered about the underlying processes and ways in which we related. This means that today’s professional counsellor offering relationship counselling.

So what can you expect if you decide to embark on a course of relationship counselling? You can expect to have a counsellor who has no vested interest in one partner or the other, but who approaches your relationship in a non-judgemental way. It is important to realise that they are not a referee or a judge agreeing or disagreeing with actions or a point of view. Nor do they have all the answers. Each couple will develop their own way their own solution as individuals and as a couple.

Very often couples come to relationship counselling when it has become difficult or impossible to communicate. Perhaps you don’t feel heard, perhaps your needs are not being met. Perhaps you don’t believe your partner understands how you feel and you have no idea how to change that. One of the skills that a counsellor brings is the ability to facilitate that communication, making sure that not only do both partners hear each other but that both partners get a chance to be heard.

Often there will be stages within relationship counselling that creates a way to communicate, then on that basis gets over the immediate crisis and finally puts in place a way forward so that future problems are discussed openly and honestly.

So if you find your partner and you are having difficulties, perhaps you should consider relationship counselling. It is often a good first step to getting your relationship back on track and healthy for whatever the future may hold.